


Throw Me into the Local Star

by SteveDuck



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, Embarrassment, F/F, First Dates, First Kiss, Happy Ending, Mistakes, Post-Episode: s06e19 I Am My Monster, Regret, Reunions, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28191174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteveDuck/pseuds/SteveDuck
Summary: Proper introductions are hard. Steven visits Homeworld to find Spinel reeling from learning that the hard way. Does Steven need to step in and make things right again or can two gems come to a happy conclusion?
Relationships: Pink Diamond's Pearl/Spinel (Steven Universe)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Throw Me into the Local Star

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bgal2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bgal2/gifts).



> This fic was written for B-gal on discord. This fic takes place between “I am my Monster” and “The Future” and may or may not be canon to my “Travels with the Pilot” series.

“Oh, Steven. Nice to see you.” Spinel barely turned her head, pressed into a crenulation of the Diamond’s palace, her usual jolly nature absent. “Could you do me a favour and just… throw me into the local star?”

Steven edged closer to Spinel, he had known she would be in a less than excellent state from what Volleyball had told him on arrival, that Spinel had ran away in the middle of their conversation for no reason. He had been expecting tears or violence, not this eerily glum calm. “The local star?” He questioned gently.

The gem’s arm shot up to point at the celestial body that acted as Homeworld’s sun. “Go ahead.” She offered gloomily. “Toss me.” She moved her arms, though not the rest of her, to assist him in the throw she proposed.

Steven stepped up to her and leant on the wall with her. “Why do you want me to do that?”

“Because I’m a stupid clod.” Even Spinel’s hair seemed to droop as she said it.

“No…” He comforted.

“Yes I am. I’m the dumbest clod in the universe.” She raised her head just to bang it against the wall again.

Steven reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. “That’s not true! What makes you say that?”

Spinel gave a deep sigh. “I guess it all started when that pink pearl arrived…”

…

Spinel sat on the steps of the Diamond’s palace, watching the tour groups go by. Palace life was good for Spinel, but it did grate sometimes. The diamonds, though they adored her, often seemed to simply watch her to delight in what she did next. It was the gems at her level, both in size and old social strata that formed most of her circle of friends.

Suddenly the warp pad to Earth lit up. Spinel perked up, though she hardly went to Earth herself, she craved constant news of the planet.

As the warp pad’s column of light dissipated, Spinel couldn’t help but silently gasp.

There, arrived from Earth, was the pearl who had belonged to Pink Diamond first. Spinel had known her before, they had belonged to the same diamond after all, their time together had been brief. Spinel had been gifted to Pink only a short time before the incident that led to her pearl being… replaced, an event she had not been present for. Now she saw her again, Spinel thought she was even prettier than before, so vibrant and full of life, even with her missing eye.

Spinel stood up with a smile, slightly wider than she had intended. “Pearl! Hey Pearl!” She ran over waving.

As the one-eyed pearl heard her name, she squinted in the caller’s direction. Her eye suddenly widened with recollection. “Spinel? Spinel!” As she stepped off the warp pad, she pulled the gem who had come to see her into a tight hug.

As touchy-feely as she considered herself, Spinel hadn’t expected a hug. It made her blush and her legs feel slightly weak for a moment. “H-Hello Pearl. I-It’s nice to see you.”

Pearl released Spinel so she could get a better look at her. “It’s been so long! Your form has changed!”

Spinel looked away. She didn’t dislike her new form, it was cool and one of a kind, but something about this prim and proper pearl seeing her with wild hair, black tear tracks and an inverted gem made her less certain. She wished she had shapeshifted before calling out to her. “It’s kinda… messy?”

“I’d call it rebellious.” Pearl smiled. “Almost like a…” she leant in close with a giggle, “Crystal Gem.” She whispered.

A thrill ran up Spinel’s back. While Homeworld and Earth were at peace, the big knot of political confusion around Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz made talk of her rebelling army into a bit of a scandal. Spinel blushed a bit, wondering if it were possible that Pearl was doing this to her on purpose. “S-So, what are you doing here?”

“I,” Pearl took a pause as she glanced around. “I’m here to take a tour of the palace.” Her eye turned to a gem gathering up others to start a tour.

Spinel’s eyes darted there and back, she had a chance, and this was no time for nerves. She balled up her courage. “Those guys only walk you around the outer grounds!” She exclaimed. “Why don’t you come with me and I give you the full tour?”

“Oh! Really? Thank you!” Pearl clapped her hands together joyously.

Spinel thus found herself leading Pearl into the palace of the diamonds. She made brief stops at the pool and extraction chamber as well as several galleries of curios gathered by the diamond’s forces over the millennia. Pearl would give little gasps and supportive exclamations to all Spinel told her, despite the fact Spinel knew Pearl was familiar with all but the most modern parts already.

As Spinel led the way from one gallery to the next, a towering distant door slid open. Occupying almost the entire frame, White Diamond stepped through. As the Diamond came their way, Pearl moved aside uncomfortably.

Seeing Spinel, White looked down with a smile. “Oh, hello Dearie.”

“Hi White!” Spinel waved. Suddenly realising the uncomfortable relationship between the diamond and her guest, Spinel subtly interposed herself between them.

“You have a little friend with you.” White noted happily, not in any way acknowledging how she had mistreated said ‘little friend’ for the past thousands of years.

“Yeah, I’m just showing them around.”

“Excellent!” The diamond beamed. “Well, I’ll leave you to it.” She stood up straight and walked past them.

When White was out of earshot, Spinel gently led her guest by the hand back to the centre of the hall. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s ok.” Pearl assured her. “You are really brave to talk to White Diamond like that.” She squeezed Spinel’s hand.

“Oh, i-it’s nothing, really.” She blustered. “White isn’t all that bad, anymore. Let’s keep going.”

Soon enough, Spinel’s improvised tour came to its final stop. “And this is my room!” She paused. Why in the name of sanity did she end her tour here?

“Oh, how lovely!” Pearl exclaimed, looking around. “You live here in the palace?”

“Yeah.” Spinel rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s pretty cool I guess.”

“Of course!” Pearl agreed. “You live with the diamonds and there’s a warp pad to Earth right outside! What a wonderful place to live!”

“Thanks.” The mention of her short commute to Earth made Spinel uncomfortable.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you on Earth. Do you not visit often?”

“I don’t really visit at all.” Spinel admitted.

“Oh. Why not?” Pearl asked. “I’ve been there a while and it really is a beautiful planet.”

“I know.” Spinel agreed, turning away. “Did you hear how I almost destroyed it?”

Pearl didn’t answer for a few seconds. “Yes. But I know that you are sorry and that you didn’t know everything that was at stake. I know the gems on Earth would forgive you, Steven already has.”

“But still, I don’t know.” Spinel started to talk more to herself than to Pearl. “It was Pink Diamond’s planet, going back to it feels like going to her again. I’m not ready to do that, I’m still really broken up about her.” She felt a touch on her shoulder, she turned back to her guest.

Pearl’s eye stared into Spinel sympathetically, her blank and cracked one stood out starkly. “I know how you feel.”

A horrible feeling lurched in Spinel. “I… I…” In a cloud of guilt and humiliation, she dashed from the room. “I’m so sorry!”

Confused and worried, Pearl tried to give chase to the faster gem. “Spinel! Wait!”

…

“And now I’m here,” Spinel explained miserably on the battlements, “waiting to be thrown into the local star.” She punched the wall. “I’m so stupid!” She exclaimed. “Pink broke her and I’m the one asking for pity!”

“Hey, it’s not that bad.” Steven comforted. “I’m sure Volleyball doesn’t see things that way.”

“Volleyball?”

“Oh, it’s what we call Pearl on Earth to avoid confusion.” Steven shook his head. “But that’s not important. My mom is something you and Pearl have in common.”

“What happened to us was completely different!” Spinel objected. “I was only abandoned.”

“For six thousand years.” Steven contested.

“Six thousand years!” Another voice exclaimed.

Spinel’s eyes widened with horror as she turned. “Pearl!”

“She abandoned you for six thousand years?” Pearl repeated. “That’s horrible!”

“But what she did to you-”

Pearl cut her off with a hug. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be alone for so long! I’m so sorry for reminding you of it.” She let go. “Maybe I shouldn’t have come to Homeworld.”

Spinel pulled her back in. “No! You’re great! I’m really glad I got to see you again! I just wish me and my big mouth hadn’t been so stupid!”

“You’re not stupid!” Pearl countered. “I… I… I didn’t come to Homeworld for a tour.”

“What?”

“I came to see you!”

“Me!?” Spinel exclaimed.

“I haven’t seen you in thousands of years, I wanted to see you again, but you’re so funny and confident, and your new form is all rebellious and beautiful.” Pearl blushed into Spinel’s shoulder. “I got nervous and lied about why I’d come.”

The gems slid apart, catching each other’s hands and holding them. “I was nervous too.” Spinel admitted. “I’m glad we have another chance to do this.”

Pearl nodded in agreement. “There was something else too,” she paused in recollection, “but it’s not important.”

“What is it?” Asked Spinel.

Pearl looked away for a moment. “There’s going to be a meteor shower visible from Little Homeworld, on Earth. Lots of people are going to be watching it in couples, Ruby and Sapphire, Topaz and Topaz, Steven and Connie.” She nodded towards Steven. “I wanted a special person to watch it with too.”

“M-Me?” Spinel blushed.

“But I understand if you don’t want to!” Pearl added hastily, blushing herself. “It is on Earth after all. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Pearl…” Spinel squeezed her delicate hands.

“I’ll, um, just give you some space.” Steven noted, turning to go.

“Hey Steven!”

He stopped and turned back for a moment. “Spinel?”

“See you at the shower!”

“See you there!” He grinned.

As Steven turned and walked away with a smile, he heard Pearl’s flustered voice. “So, you want to c- oh! I-” She was cut off by the unmistakable sound of a kiss.

That sound was followed by a giggle and a kiss in return.

Burning red, Steven covered his ears and entered a quiet run, though he grinned all the harder as he left.


End file.
